Whitecaps get best of Loons again

The West Michigan Whitecaps continued their dominance of the Great Lakes Loons this season with a 7-2 win on Saturday afternoon in front of 2,097 fans at Dow Diamond.

The Whitecaps (10-3) are 6-0 against the Loons (3-10).

West Michigan went ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning, with its first four baserunners reaching on two walks and two hit batsmen by Loons starter Riley Ottesen (0-1). The Whitecaps added three in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead.

The three Loons pitchers in the game — Ottesen, Wills Montgomerie and Aneurys Zabala — combined to walk eight but allowed just three hits and struck out 14.

For Great Lakes, Nick Yarnall singled home Marcus Chiu in the third and Brandon Montgomery hit a solo homer in the fifth, his first of the season.

Yarnall is second on the team with a .364 batting average and leads the Loons with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Jesus Rodriguez (1-0) gave up two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings to get the win for the Whitecaps, a Detroit Tigers affiilate. Clate Schmidt allowed just one baserunner in 3 2/3 innings to finish up.

The Loons and Whitecaps finish their three-game series with a 2:05 p.m. game on Sunday.